Tempest of the Battlefield

“Shut up, Tan Bu! You are the loudest here!” Lun Duo refuted.

“Buzz off, you jerk! I am the captain, listen to me!”

Such a banter was a common occurrence among the soldiers of Battle Wolf. It helped to ease the nerves of the soldiers while they fought. The more relaxed a soldier was, the better his performance on the battlefield would be. In other words, the gloomy and solemn atmosphere was at least in part responsible for the widespread depression and despair among soldiers from House Lie. Although Lie Jian was extremely positive about him inside, on the outside, he was too cold and too solemn a leader.

Wang Tong, Guan Dongyang, and Michaux, three of the most powerful mastery casters, gathered around to weave a spell that no one had ever seen even in their wildest dreams.

The sun had sent its first ray of light through the forest in the distance. The dark ones and the Zergs were about to wage their final wave of attack.

The purple guards snorted at Harmon’s cautious methods. Why didn’t Harmon simply let them attack directly instead of sending more cannon fodder? Harmon didn’t explain his intent, knowing that the purple guards wouldn’t comprehend it. The attack was to keep the pressure on the humans, distracting them from whatever they were planning, so that the dark ones would have the initiative.

It was called “containing the enemy.” When the purple guard finally attacked, these overwrought human soldiers would be much easier to deal with.

War was an art, and Harmon was convinced that the dark ones were still too primitive to appreciate its finesse.

When the day finally broke, there were three human warriors that appeared on top of the building.

Wang Tong, Michaux, and Guang Dongyang floated above the roof of the building, underneath whom, the mastery casters of Battle Wolf and the Sect were waiting for instructions.

Guan Dongyang charged up his soul energy and raised his arms, then started chanting. Inside the building, the mastery casters worked together to modulate Guan Dongyang’s soul energy, amplifying it. This time, there wouldn’t be any hybrid spells. The caster’s strategy was simple: boost Guan Dongyang’s soul energy as much as they could. Energy in nature answered the casters’ beckoning as they poured it into Guan Dongyang’s system.

Suddenly, Guan Dongyang was aflame, looking more like a Fire God than he ever did.

Harmon felt the energy coming off Guan Dongyang and seemed troubled. The METAL warriors of House Lie and Battle Wolf had formed a protective wall around the three casters on the rooftop, with Yin Tianzong as the leader. Facing the direction where the Zergs were coming from, Yin Tianzong raised his shield and blocked the way like a heavy iron gate.

Michaux joined Guan Dongyang’s chanting, although it was a different tone and belonged to a different spell. In an instant, the Divine Master’s body gave a shimmering blue light that flickered and swirled, rippling about Michaux like ocean waves; that was pure energy from the water element. The casters from the Sect responded to their leader’s call and started to channel their soul energy into the Divine Master. The flames of Guan Dongyang and the icy water of Michaux created a fabulous view: a world of ice and fire.

The development on the roof top drove Harmon’s concern deeper. However, the advantage he held in numbers gave him consolation. How many lives could these spells claim anyway? A few thousand, or a few dozens of thousands? No matter, those were finite numbers, while the Zerg supply was nearly infinite. Plus, if the humans were really capable of massively destructive spells that could hurt the Zergs, they wouldn’t have fallen from grace five years ago.

Harmon conceded that he might have been overly cautious; perhaps it was the victory being so close to his grasp that had stressed him out? Did the irrational fear of losing it at his fingertips haunted his mind and made him wary? After some reflection, Harmon conceded his extreme circumspection and decided to double down on the attack. The spell was Wang Tong’s last ditch effort to save their inevitable destruction. The more power they absorbed from nature, the more damage they would do to their sea of consciousness. Without the three leaders, Harmon wagered that he wouldn’t even need the help of the purple guards.

Lie Jian had refrained from casting large areal spells for the exact same reason. What was the meaning of killing two thousand Zergs when another twenty thousand were lurking behind the front line?

Harmon lamented over Wang Tong’s inexperience. These Zergs belonged to the dark lord. As an immortal, Harmon would gladly charge them into the battle and let them die. Under Harmon’s order, the heavy Zergs moved out and started charging at the human soldiers. Their heavy armor would provide a good defense against the spells.

The sky started to bubble up and was divided down the middle into two halves; one was red, the color of fire, and the other blue, the color of ice. The casters were still chanting; it was a long spell. The two energies they had summoned were located on the opposite end of the spectrum, but they had left each other in peace.

Not even the mastery casters knew what the spell they were contributing to, since the three leaders carried out their discussion in secrecy. A team of mastery casters worked on the same principle as an orchestra band. The lead mastery caster was the conductor, dictating each step and pause while the rest of the casters were instrumentalists who would only need to follow the conductor and read their segment off the music chart.

By then, the skills of these mastery casters were evident; they had jammed the most fantastic symphony of energy the world had ever seen.

Harmon felt his heart hammering in his chest as doubt crept back into his mind. He had heard that the Martians excelled at Mastery, but would they be powerful enough to undermine his calculation?

Harmon did not know the answer to that question; however, the nagging thoughts of defeat persisted in his mind like an annoying fly. The power at display made him realize that the mastery casters were on a much higher level than METAL warriors in terms of raw power.

Michaux was brimming with anger as he weaved the deadly spell of revenge. Nothing would give him solace more than the death of his enemies. He had foolishly thought that by avoiding violence, he’d be able to reach enlightenment. But little did he know that violence was the reality, and it was even rooted in the divine path.

The water element around him felt his anger as it swelled and riled violently. Standing abreast of him was Guan Dongyang, who had already thrown himself into a fiery trance.

Both Michaux and Guan Dongyang were taken aback when they first heard Wang Tong suggesting this spell. They both knew that it was an extremely risky move. But for that breed of men who were half in love with teetering on the edge of their lives while peering into the deepest secrets, the danger was simply a spur.

To complete this spell, the doublet needed one more caster, and not just any caster; it had to one with power that surpassed the sum of the other two.

Standing right in the middle of the two casters, Wang Tong merged placatory soul energy with the ice and fire.

While the mastery casters worked industriously to wave the spell, Lie Jian had fallen asleep soundly. He knew that when he woke up again, the crisis would have been averted. Although Wang Tong was his opponent, he was also his most trusted friend.

It wasn’t until then that Harmon finally realized that he had missed a key element in his calculation: Wang Tong!

As the spell was ready to consummate, Wang Tong folded his hands and then shifted through a dozen hand signs with impressively agile fingers. Afterward, he drew his hand back to his sides as a burst of soul Essence shot through the air, his body suffused with a golden gleam.

Spurred by Wang Tong’s soul essence, the other two casters hastened the shifting of hand signs and supplied him from their deep reservoir of soul energy. The two worked in unison as if they had been practicing for years, together with Wang Tong, the trio united in a trinity.

The Wang Tong didn’t pitch forth the power right away; instead, he kept it in him where it multiplied.

Harmon was speechless. This much energy should have torn an immortal apart, much less a human’s mortal coil. Wang Tong’s power was not from this world—to be able to contain two extremities in one body, it was the power of a god.

The fire burned and water frizzled; coaxed by Wang Tong’s golden soul essence, the two energies merged into one. Much like nuclear fusion, this process created a power of unimaginable scales, and it burned like a sun inside Wang Tong’s sea of consciousnesses.

Harmon’s face paled as he realized that he should not have let Wang Tong join forces with the other two mastery casters. But, it was all too late; the tables had turned, and the hunter had become the prey.

Suddenly, Wang Tong opened his eyes and all warriors and mounts of Battle Wolf pulled back to safety inside the building. All this while, the direwolves howled in excitement.

The sunshine pierced through the dark clouds, and for a split-second, Harmon had seen his death in the warm sunlight.

God’s Lament—Mercy of the Dawn Goodness!

Pure energy, devoid of elemental attributes tumbled out from the middle of the trio. At first, there was no sound, just a high and thin din at the edge of hearing. A second later, it was as if the entire ocean was coming at the Zergs.

KOMMMMM!

Harmon’s shivered. He was still able to control his body but not the parasite Zerg inside his chest. It was paralyzed by fear after he had sensed the power coming after it.

Wang Tong had used the forbidden power, the power of God.

The energy tumbled down from the top of the building and flooded the city, devouring anything in its path. Even the heaviest Zerg armor would disintegrate down to the molecular level in an instant. It pushed itself forward, washing away the sins residing in the city.

A purple guard threw himself at the deadly wave, but he disappeared in an instant as the wave carried on.

As the trio continued the spell, the deluge soon breached the wall and inundated the land outside the city.